Lighten Up

Hit the Park

For a major metropolitan area, the Washington region has an astonishing abundance of parks, with an equally robust range of recreational options within them, from pedaling to picnicking, horseback riding to skeet shooting, paddling to bird-watching and a great deal more.

Seneca Creek State Park in Gaithersburg (11950 Clopper Rd.; 301-924-2127) features an 18-hole disc (a.k.a. Frisbee) golf course in addition to the 16.5-mile Greenway hiking trail and 90-acre Clopper Lake.

In the District, you can wheel over to Rock Creek Park, where sections of Beach Drive are closed to cars and open to in-line skaters and bicyclists from 7 a.m. Saturdays through 7 p.m. Sundays. Beginning April 21, Washington Area Roadskaters ( http://www.skatedc.org/) will host free skating clinics in the park, meeting Saturdays at noon in Parking Lot 6.

If you've been chafing at those winter workouts brought to an early end (or forced indoors) by the setting sun, you can greet the earlier arrival of DST and go the distance on the 45-mile Washington & Old Dominion trail, which offers multiple access points across Northern Virginia and runs to Purcellville in Loudoun County.

The W&OD trail is part of the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority (703-352-5900; http://www.nvrpa.org/), which offers 21 parks and "quite a lot for folks in this area to do with their extra hour," says Mark Riddell, marketing and communications manager for the park authority. Spread out among the parks are miles of hiking, equestrian and even paddling trails, including an eight-mile mountain biking trail at Fountainhead Regional Park (10875 Hampton Rd., Fairfax Station; 703-250-9124) and the 17.5-mile hiking and horseback riding Bull Run-Occoquan Trail, which crosses several parks ( http://www.nvrpa.org/trails.html).

A Play Date With Fido

There is no look of long-suffering, silent reproach quite like the one your dog gives you as you hustle it, yet again, on a brisk and brief circuit around the block. Let's face it: On those dark, dreary winter nights, the walk is a desultory affair, quickly dispensed with. Well, now the day grows longer, and it's time to make it up to Fido with a nice long frolic at the local dog park.

As it turns out, our region rather takes the biscuit when it comes to places where your dog can run. Montgomery County has half-acre fenced dog playgrounds at Black Hill Regional Park (20030 Lake Ridge Dr., Boyds), Ridge Road Recreational Park (21155 Frederick Rd., Germantown) and Wheaton Regional Park (2000 Shorefield Rd., Wheaton). All three parks are open until sunset daily ( http://www.montgomeryparks.org/). For more information, call 301-495-2595.

The Fairfax County Park Authority system has seven dog parks, all open until dusk; four are wheelchair accessible ( http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/offleash.htm).

Other locations in Northern Virginia are listed on the Web site http://www.viennadogs.org/, and a more extensive regional list can be found online in the Metropets "yellow pages," at http://www.metropets.org/YellowPages/parks.php.

If there isn't one in your neighborhood, well, you have that extra afternoon light. Surely a little road trip isn't too much for Fido to ask of you.

Camping Under the Stars

With its milder days and still-cool nights, spring makes for great camping weather; this time of year you can also enjoy your outdoors free of mosquitoes, oppressive heat and crowds. That extra hour of afternoon sun means you can head out from work Friday to find that perfect little wooded glade in which to pitch your tent beneath the stars while still getting there in time to put the tent up in daylight.

Try Greenbelt Park in Maryland: 1,100 acres, open year-round, 174 campsites, hot showers (!) and only 12 miles from the District (6565 Greenbelt Rd., Greenbelt; 301-344-3948, http://www.nps.gov/gree; camping $16 per night). At Lake Fairfax Park in Reston (1400 Lake Fairfax Dr.; 703-471-5415), the non-summer rate is $20 per night, but you can throw in electrical service and Wi-Fi Internet access for small additional fees. After all, though a certain rugged breed of outdoors enthusiast might sing the praises of minimalist adventuring and hoofing it into the wilderness armed with little more than an energy bar and a two-ounce tarpaulin, the virtue of urban camping is that all the little niceties of civilization, such as triple grande mocha lattes and your MySpace account, are available.